"rejected matter, that which is vile or despised," 1520s; literally "that which is scoured off;" from off (prep.) + verbal noun from scour (v.1) "cleanse by hard rubbing."
Entries linking to off-scouring
off prep., adv.
by c. 1200 as an emphatic form of Old English of (see of), employed in the adverbial use of that word. The prepositional meaning "away from" and the adjectival sense of "farther" were not firmly fixed in this variant until 17c., but once they were they left the original of with the transferred and weakened senses of the word. Meaning "not working" is from 1861.
Off the cuff "extemporaneously, without preparation" (1938) is from the notion of speaking from notes written in haste on one's shirt cuffs. In reference to clothing, off the rack (adj.) "not tailored, not made to individual requirements, ready-made" is by 1963, on the notion of buying it from the rack of a clothing store; off the record "not to be publicly disclosed" is from 1933; off the wall "crazy" is 1968, probably from the notion of a lunatic "bouncing off the walls" or else in reference to carom shots in squash, handball, etc.
scour v.1
c. 1200, scouren, "cleanse by hard rubbing," probably via Middle Dutch scuren, schuren "to polish, to clean," and from Old French escurer, both from Late Latin excurare (Medieval Latin scurare) "clean off," literally "take good care of," from Latin ex "out," or here perhaps intensive (see ex-), + curare "care for, take care of" (see cure (v.)). OED suggests it entered the language as a technical term among Flemish workmen in England. From 1580s as "to wash vigorously." Related: Scoured; scouring. As a noun, 1610s, from the verb.